Glasses
by sue-sylvester-shuffle
Summary: Nastasia loses her glasses, which means she's completely blind as a bat! Dimentio tries to help, but Nastasia is too worried about her reputation to tell Count Bleck that she can't work. What can she do, when she can't see at all? And who will be able to convince her that her pride doesn't always come first? :D Please read!


Nastasia woke up one morning in Castle Bleck. It seemed to be a normal day… just as regular and boring as always.

She didn't know how wrong she was.

Nastasia began her morning ritual. She sat up, yawned, and rubbed her eyes. And then she reached for her glasses, which always sat on her bedside table.

There was nothing there.

Nastasia froze, dread settling in her stomach. _Oh no. _Without her glasses, she was blind as a bat.

She drew in a shaky breath. It would be okay. They probably just fell onto the floor or something… She reached down and rubbed her hand along the floor, looking desperately for her glasses… and ended up overbalancing and falling to the ground.

Nastasia was caught in a swathe of tangled sheets. She flailed around blindly, trying to get out of her sheets.

"Nastasia…?" said a confused voice from above her.

Nastasia stopped moving. She took a deep breath and called out, "Um, hi." Her cheeks were burning.

A pair of hands came down and lifted the blanket from her. Nastasia looked up at the person. All she saw was a smear of purple and yellow. Dimentio.

"What seems to be the matter?" asked Dimentio smoothly, helping Nastasia to her feet and placing the blanket back on her bed.

Nastasia tried not to move, because she knew she would fall. "Um, Dimentio, I've lost my glasses… so I can't really see."

Dimentio chuckled. "I bet that this is the work of our dear friends Mimi and Mr L, wouldn't you say?"

"I, um, never thought of that."

Dimentio chuckled. "Well, we both know that they _do _enjoy a good prank." he said.

Nastasia nodded slowly. "But… oh, Dimentio… could you, um, do me a favour?"

"Anything." Dimentio smiled.

"As you may know, I'm basically _blind _without my glasses." said Nastasia. "Could you, um, find them for me?"

Dimentio nodded. "I shall be right back, my dear Nastasia." He hurried off.

Using her hands only, Nastasia found her way back to her bed. She couldn't see anything, so the logical thing was to sit down.

"Nastasia?"

Nastasia looked up. All she could see was a blur, but… a dark blue blur. That combined with the voice… Nastasia recognized the person standing at the door as Count Bleck.

_Oh no, _she thought. _Not now. Not without my glasses… _

"Um, hi, Count." said Nastasia, trying to ignore the fact that the blur in front of her eyes was making her a bit dizzy.

Although Nastasia couldn't see the expression on his face, he didn't seen to notice that she wasn't wearing her glasses. "Can you do me a favour, Nastasia?"

Nastasia felt her heart sinking. No way she could do _anything _without her glasses! But she couldn't say no to the Count. Of course he'd understand, but… she didn't want to embarrass herself. Not in front of _him._

"Sure thing, Count." she said.

"There is a stack of papers on the kitchen counter. Can you read them over for me? I have a lot of work to do, and I would appreciate it if you would help me."

Nastasia swallowed hard. First of all, she would have to go down the stairs without her glasses… that was disaster in itself. And then, having to read a _stack _of papers? She sighed. It was impossible, but…

"Um, I'll be right on it, 'K?" said Nastasia.

"Thank you, Nastasia." Count Bleck smiled and left the room.

Nastasia took a deep breath and stood shakily. Oh, where was Dimentio with her glasses…?

She took a few steps. The world swayed around her. "Dimentio?" she called out.

Suddenly there was a _pop, _a shimmer of light, and Dimentio materialized beside her.

"Nastasia, it's me." said Dimentio.

"Oh. Dimentio. Do you have my glasses?" asked Nastasia hopefully.

Dimentio shook his head. "Sadly, my prediction was wrong. Mimi and Mr L had nothing to do with it."

Nastasia nearly wailed out loud. "Um, Dimentio, you _do _know I can't see _anything _right now? And the Count has just asked me to go down to the kitchen and read a stack of papers. I can't do _any _of that without my glasses…"

"You could just tell the Count, Nastasia." suggested Dimentio irritably.

"Um, that would be embarrassing, 'K?"

"Nastasia, don't tell me you are trying to _impress _him? You know that won't work…"

Nastasia's face turned bright red. "It's not so much _impressing _him than not wanting to make a fool out of myself in front of him…"

Dimentio laughed. "Aha… well, good luck with trying to do your work without your _eyes, _Nastasia. Ciao!"

"Wait!"

But it was too late. Dimentio had snapped his fingers and disappeared in a square of light. Dejected, Nastasia sighed. She had no choice but to pretend she was doing what Bleck had asked her.

Carefully, she took a few baby steps toward the door. The world was so blurry she could only see smears of colour on a blank landscape. It made her feel dizzy. But she continued moving forward.

Nastasia got out of her room. She almost fell down twice, but she managed to stay on her feet. But this was the hardest part… the _stairs._

She stopped for a second and stared down. Although she couldn't see anything, she _knew _how long and steep the stairs were.

Nastasia gulped. Here she went.

She took one step onto the stairs… and tripped.

For a second there was the terrible sensation of falling. And then Nastasia hit the ground- _hard_- and everything went black.

When Nastasia woke up, the first thing she found was that someone had put a cold cloth on her forehead. Curious, she opened her eyes… to the beautifully sharpness of _clarity._

She was wearing her glasses.

Nastasia sat up, the cloth falling listlessly from her face. She looked around… to see Count Bleck watching her.

Immediately embarrassment set in. Nastasia gulped. "Um, Count… what happened…?"

"You fell down the stairs and hurt yourself." replied Bleck quietly. "I found you and healed you. But you developed a fever… I stayed with you." He refused to meet her gaze.

Nastasia didn't meet his, either. "Um… thanks." Truth is, she was embarrassed to have to depend on him like that. But she was grateful, of course.

Suddenly he burst out, "Why didn't you tell me, Nastasia?"

"Tell… Tell you what?"

"That you'd lost your glasses and couldn't see!" He looked right into her eyes. His dark orange eyes were hurt.

Nastasia gulped. "Um… Count, I didn't want to embarrass myself… I didn't want to feel like I couldn't _do _anything…"

"Nastasia…" Bleck sighed. "No one is perfect. I think that's a lesson you _need _to learn."

"'K." replied Nastasia softly.

"Another thing you need to know… it's better to be honest, because you can get hurt. You learned that the hard way."

"'K." she repeated, her voice quieter.

"One last thing." Bleck came over and sat down on the edge of the bed. He took Nastasia's hand, which made her look up at him, her eyes wide. "I really care about you, Nastasia. I don't _want _you to get hurt. If you had just told me that you couldn't work without your glasses, I would have found them for you!"

"S-Sorry…" Nastasia murmured.

"Just promise me you'll be honest with me from now on."

"I promise."

Bleck smiled. "Thank you." He leaned in and gave Nastasia a little kiss on the forehead, making her eyes widen even more. "You rest for a while. Feel better in the morning."

He left the room, turning off the lights as he went. Nastasia just lay there, eyes wide, staring at the ceiling.

His words slid through her scattered mind. _"Just promise me you'll be honest with me from now on."_

Nastasia would be honest about _everything _now. She couldn't let him down… she couldn't break her promise.

Wait.

There was one thing she couldn't be honest about.

_I love you, Count Bleck. But you can't ever know._


End file.
